


Lest you forget

by Dizon



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 07:30:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20336419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dizon/pseuds/Dizon
Summary: Five times Abby Wambach treats Hope Solo like shit, and the one time she apologizes.





	Lest you forget

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Reader’s discretion is advised.

She was Abby Wambach and no upstart goalkeeper would upstage her but she did.

It was the first match in the season that she’d gone for so long without scoring a goal. The match between the two teams was about to end and Abby made a last second dash to score. She tackled Hope Solo – hard - and ended up on top of her.   
No, she didn’t score. But she felt a sense of accomplishment even as the ref warned her. Her euphoria lasted all of 10 seconds before a look of intense desire shot through her as she and Solo attempted to untangle themselves. Solo got her clean sheet and Abby ‘accidentally’ pushed her on her butt as she got up.

**

They’d both gotten the call up to attend uswnt camp. 

Abby Wambach quickly endeared herself to the 99ers – doing all the right things that would make her fit in. And slowly, she was accepted into the group. She became part of the status quo. She thought Hope Solo would join the cool kids. She had the looks, the swagger and the confidence. But she declined.

Instead, Solo went to the back of the bus and kept busy reading her book. She totally ignored Abby’s pointed comments about aligning herself with people who would help out her career. Solo focused on winning and … shopping. She didn’t talk much but when she did, her candor won her no favors. But the girl was so insanely good and had an almost frightening work ethic that it became impossible to criticize her on that front. 

Then on game day, Abby messed up with Solo’s jersey and Solo was forced to wear another one. But before the game started, the ref told Solo to change. Abby cackled when she heard that. But she wasn’t cackling a moment later when Solo began to change out of her jersey right there on the field. Abby was left staring her mouth wide open. Who knew Solo had more abs than her? The thirst was real.

**

Solo had just lost her dad. 

Abby put aside her mixed feelings and went to comfort her. Hope brushed her off but Abby persisted. Solo broke down and Abby held her. And then, in the course of comforting her, that’s when it happened. Abby kissed Solo and for a moment, it seemed like Solo kissed her back. But then, Solo sprung back as if stung. Abby left rejected.

Next time when Solo spoke about the coach, Abby led an all out war against her. She spearheaded the witch hunt and warned Carli Lloyd about associating with Solo. Abby started making pointed jabs about Solo being out of Carli’s league. Why would Solo go for a pillow princess, she asked. When her insults didn’t work, Abby started wondering aloud if Carli turned into Carlos behind closed doors. What else could explain why Solo kept her around when she had refused to join the other cliques?

Later, Abby felt really remorseful about her behavior towards Solo. She decided to man up and apologize. But she was too chicken to do it in person. She decided to write her a letter and beg for forgiveness. Later, during the world cup, coach would go ahead to foster better relationships within the team. But when Lloyd blew her penalty kick, Abby couldn’t help her indirect jabs towards Lloyd. Lloyd had done what others had failed time and time again – she’d gotten close to Solo and Abby wasn’t too pleased about it. 

**

It was in the 2011, the Brazil game, when the defense experienced a complete breakdown. Abby and her cronies gave Solo a hard time during halftime. They lectured her for getting a yellow card and completely ignored Rampone’s epic blunder that led to the penalty kick in the first place. Solo kept silent and was comforted by some of the new kids. 

During game time, Abby’s last second goal tied things up and they went to penalties. A few minutes later, it was done. They’d won and their mistreatment of Solo was forgotten. Abby rushed over to envelop Solo in a hug, Solo brushed Abby and her cronies away as she sought Kling, one of the few people who’d comforted her during the rather humiliating lecture. Still, Abby persisted and Solo joyfully returned her hug, forgiving yet again. Truce achieved. That evening, the two of them were glued by the hip. Abby proudly putting her hand over Solo’s shoulder, smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary.

That night, Abby went over to Solo’s room planning to continue the festivities. The door opened and she was met with Solo’s seemingly overnight boyfriend. Abby called Solo out and accused her of leading her on. Solo reminded her that Abby was in a relationship with Sarah. Abby shouted at Solo and called her names. The next morning there was a blind item in the gossip blogs about Hope Solo sneaking someone into her room. 

**

Fast track to 2015, and Abby and Solo mended their friendship a little bit. And then there was Carli, who had managed to mend her relationship with her family after her support of Solo had alienated them years ago. It irked Abby that Lloyd chose Solo over her own family. That was something she couldn’t compete with. But she swallowed her jealousy. Then entered Sydney Leroux. The girl was Hope’s teammate and was chummy with everyone. 

Hope liked Syd and accepted her in her personal space and Abby wasted no time in suggesting they hung out. Often times, Abby, Hope and Syd would do stuff together, joined by one or two teammates so long as they were not Carli Lloyd. There were rumors that Lloyd had been jealous of the new friendships Hope had formed with the likes of Kelly O’Hara (Poor Kelly. Some had speculated that Solo distanced herself from her after Kelly’s crush on her became worse but let it be noted that Kelly and Carli were the only ones Solo name-dropped when she was asked about missing the uswnt.) 

Another instance of Lloyd’s jealousy came in the form of Lloyd speaking out about the attention Alex Morgan was being given. In essence, Alex was paired a lot with Solo and Lloyd was feeling a little left out. After all, Solo was her best friend. She should have been the one to spend time with her – not Alex. But when the final whistle blew, Lloyd and Solo rushed towards each other and cried in each other’s arms as their hard work became vindicated. 

Abby had been relegated to a footnote, not even starting most of the games. 

Needless to say, she was not pleased but she swallowed her pride and went out of her way to give Solo they trophy for the photo shoot. Solo’s smile eased some of her pain and she thought it was enough. But when Solo and Carli gushed about each other in between praising their teammates every now and then, Abby was forced to accept that Solo was never hers to begin with. 

**  
Solo was in the news again, making comments about another team. 

Abby followed her on social media, a bowl of popcorn at hand. Abby had been fighting with Sarah a bit more, drinking a bit more, trying to forget the brilliance that is Hope Solo. And then she got her chance. Abby came out of retirement to specifically give her two cents about the issue. Even then, she could not deny that Solo was the best goalkeeper she’d ever had the privilege to play with bar none. 

But when the reporter kept insisting on getting Abby to spill the beans even going as far as to ask if they’d ever gotten to a physical fight, Abby realized what a mistake she’d made – yet again. She could only backpedal by saying that some would also consider her to be a difficult teammate, same as Solo. That night, she went home feeling sick to her stomach. She also realized that it was time she completely broke it off with Sarah. She couldn’t continue to be in a relationship with her when Sarah confronted her about her feelings for a certain fired keeper. 

But Solo wouldn’t pick up her calls. 

Abby consoled herself that Solo wasn’t speaking to any of her old teammates. But then she saw Solo and Mitts hanging out together at a street soccer event. Abby was not amused. A year passed, and Abby deepened her relationship with Glenn. Glenn was smart, opinionated, layered, unafraid to call out Abby on her shit, an avid reader, a gardener, an animal lover, a healthy eater, a fitness enthusiast, a speaker, a motivator and a writer – everything Hope Solo was – everything Abby wanted. And then the team decided to have a reunion. Abby went. Solo did not. Abby decided to settle in the knowledge that she wouldn’t cross Hope Solo’s path again.

**

And then the world cup happened and Abby found herself mesmerized by the image of Solo on her TV screen. Now take this with a grain of salt – Solo had applied to be an analyst with several sports station including Fox sports – but rumor has it that Julie, she of the famous 99ers ponytail posse, and some others not mentioned, shot the idea down. So when Solo got the BBC sports gig, some people were in disbelief. After all, BBC held all the rights to the WWC and Fox had to pay to use the feed. Now, we’re not saying that some people were left fuming but get this, there were over 15 articles and discussions generated by Fox sports and ESPN about Solo’s BBC commentary during the world cup period alone. A sports pundit taking center stage at a rival sports network – read in it what you want. But in that, Abby was innocent. 

**

Abby heard Solo make comments about Jill – something everyone had thought of and said behind closed doors. Abby decided to show her support for the coach (never mind that her wife was already campaigning for her to fill the spot when Jill stepped down), completely forgetting the choice words she’d had for the woman when Jill benched her again and again. 

She didn’t specifically name drop Solo, but she knew some of her old teammates would pick it up and do the dirty work for her. Solo was called un-American and Abby was thrilled. So when the episode ‘this is football’ that featured the 99ers with Solo’s commentary dropped on Amazon prime and both Scurry and Brandi tweeted about it, Abby was left with her jaw wide open. Never in her wildest dream would she have thought that Brandi would praise something Solo was a part of leave alone Scurry. And Mitts, Solo’s back of the back crew pal, made sure to let Solo know that she would be watching the episode. Abby fumed.   
But she was laughing again when Solo’s request to be part of the mediating team was turned down. The headlines specifically name-dropped Alex Morgan (who Abby had previously taken under her wing idol) as being strongly opposed to Solo joining the team. Apparently, Alex didn’t like the wording of Solo’s request as it suggested uswnt would fold under pressure. 

It didn’t matter that Alex, Solo, Megan, Becky and Alyssa had previously joined forces to sue their employer. It didn’t matter that when the law suit was thrown out (let’s not mention the whole Abby getting arrested thing that had overshadowed that fight and set the uswnt backwards at that time) it was Solo who filed an independent suit that led to 3 arbitrators finding their employer in violation of federal law – an offense that has the potential to have far reaching repercussions than people are giving it credit for (other countries, notably France, had started asking FIFA questions). It didn’t matter that a judge had ordered Solo to find ways to work with the uswnt members to avoid the courts having to deal with similar law suits. None of it mattered.

And especially, it didn’t matter that the 28 uswnt members were relying heavily on Solo’s case to further their own case. Oh, they wanted her notes. They wanted her findings and records – the ones she’d fought for on her own dime and time - but somehow, when it came to including her on the mediating table, they suggested that Solo had her own agenda. Oh she did, but it always included the betterment of the team. 

As Solo had said previously, Megan and Kelly (whose part is not well-known) had been naïve in thinking that their employer would act justly. They’d been part of the posse that had rejected Solo’s call for strike a few years earlier– Solo was left in amused disbelief when two years later, the team threatened to strike with Megan and Alex being held as leaders of the revolution. Oh the erasure! She’d warned them but of course they hadn’t listened. But none of that mattered. 

Abby gave her two cents about the team needing to be paid equally. She praised Megan and Alex and went as far as calling Megan her leader. The women’s and men’s team had joined forces in opposing Solo and Abby smiled. So when a few days later, the uswnt employer dropped a report saying the women’s team was actually being paid more, Abby and her minions were left astounded. 

But they thought they had the support of the men and Abby tweeted it like an already-win. That was until the grumblings started and one of the men’s team members had had enough and could not keep silent about the women’s pay any longer. After all, the men’s team only get paid when they won – and as the uswnt loved telling people, the men’s team hadn’t won anything since 1930. 

They were at a standstill – yet again. 

Megan continued her media appearances, promoting her clothing brand and talking about Trump who ironically had been cheering on the team. (Also, let it be noted – in case of any future debates- that although Megan Rapinoe later raised eyebrows about the timing of Hope Solo’s termination, she did not hesitate to distance herself from Hope Solo once she heard about her remarks – even as Solo’s friend Lotta and two other teammates from the ‘cowards’ team publicly excused Solo’s behavior). Megan did not stand by her teammate twice over. (Some thought that was more callous than Megan breaking up with Abby over text when the girl was in hospital with a broken leg). 

Abby continued promoting her book and her speaking engagements (ironically about women working together) and Solo went on a much needed vacation after coming out of a hectic world cup schedule and her advocacy work that had her sashaying the corridors of the senate and forming alliances with other like-minded people from different countries. She started work on building the swimming pool after having just completed the guest house and embraced her new role at BiEN Sports.

As you know, Solo had lived in a trailer for a year as they built the main house. But rumor has it that tid-bit of information made rounds among a certain chat group, only they made it seem like she’d hit rock bottom, but nothing has been confirmed. But for now, all that was left to do was wait. Both groups hoping for a solution that would make them both look good without being seen like they compromised.

But the fact that Kate Markgraf, she who didn’t shy away from throwing verbal punches at Solo during the 2007 saga had been elevated to a position of power, gave Abby a way in. After all, Solo still had unfinished business with US soccer and sooner or later, she’d have to deal with Kate. And who better than to bridge that gap? But that’s a saga that still being written.

During the wwc19, if Glenn noticed Abby taking an unusual amount of interest not only in the uswnt games but also other features, columns, podcasts, coffee talks, pre-game and post-game analysis, not to mention her choice of channel, she didn’t say a word. Glenn was determined to mold Abby Wambach into the person she wanted her to be, starting by introducing a little reading into the woman’s life and no upstart soccer pundit would show her up.


End file.
